A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to produce my own short animated video. It was fun. We had a very limited budget, so this is what I did to get an animated video done.

We came up with the creative. This was probably the biggest saver of time and money. When you know what message you want delivered and how you want it delivered, it makes it easy to produce the video. If you are in full creative mode and need to get good ideas on a killer short video, the time and money can add up quickly. Even having a rough sketch of what you want is better than nothing. If you have a tight budget, work with your team and network to get feedback and insights as this could literally save thousands of dollars.

Animation. The price of animation has become affordable. There are many software programs that even allow amateurs to create their own animated videos. We explored some of these when creating our video, but at that time, it was still cheaper and easier just to get a professional involved instead of spending a ton of energy trying to make it work for us. Keep an eye on sites like PowToon as these are constantly getting better.

Iterate and go. Your first video won’t be that great. Just realize that. It will save you a ton of time and money. Get the first video out the door. Get some views. Get some feedback. Generate more ideas on how to make it snappier, funnier and ultimately more memorable. Then you can spend more money to make it better.